Golden Autumn - Part Nine
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
Me 9:01 AM: Oh no!!
Companion Plant 🍃 9:01 AM: What happened? Are you okay?
Me 9:02 AM: What happened is I meant to wake up early this morning so I could talk to you before you left for work! But I woke up to a dainty paw slap from Luna instead of a kiss from you, so I knew right away that you already left 😞
Companion Plant 🍃 9:03 AM: Oh, is that all? Don’t make me worry like that, man.
Companion Plant 🍃 9:03 AM: I thought it was better to let you sleep in, since you have an afternoon shift today anyways. I knew you were exhausted. We were out all night.
Companion Plant 🍃 9:03 AM: What did you want to talk to me about?
Me 9:04 AM: Just how you’re feeling about everything, about telling Raj, Mel, and Ripples the truth! We barely got to talk about it before we crashed last night. Although I see you took the time to put the buttermilk out on the windowsill before we went to bed, thank you ♥️
Companion Plant 🍃 9:05 AM: No problem. Wouldn’t want to leave the spirits unfed.
Me 9:06 AM: Seriously, how are you feeling, Sugar Maple? Now that everyone knows?
Companion Plant 🍃 9:06 AM: Honestly, really good. I went for a super long run this morning just for the fun of it. Had a lot of energy to burn.
Me 9:08 AM: ☺️
Me 9:08 AM: 😞
Companion Plant 🍃 9:08 AM: ??
Companion Plant 🍃 9:08 AM: Why the mood swing, Linden?
Me 9:08 AM: I was happy, because I know how good of a mood you’re in when you go running really far just for the fun of it. Then I was sad because I realized I missed seeing you in full silliness mode 😞 Goddamnit. I should have set an alarm!!
Companion Plant 🍃 9:10 AM: Keane, please, I’m a respected archivist. I don’t have a full silliness mode.
Me 9:10 AM: You realize you’re practically begging me to start listing off examples?
Companion Plant 🍃 9:10 AM: Okay, moving right past that, one correction - almost everyone knows the truth now. There’s still Kent.
Me 9:12 AM: Oh, fuck!! That’s right, Kent!! I sort of think of him and Gabby as a unit, so I keep forgetting he doesn’t know yet! Shit.
Companion Plant 🍃 9:12 AM: I know… I feel bad that we still haven’t had that talk with him, I want him to know, but I’m kind of exhausted from doing it with everyone else. I just feel like I’ve told a lot of people lately and I need a break from explaining
Me 9:13 AM: Aw, babe. I understand.♥️
Me 9:13 AM: Hey, I just had a thought! What if I tell Kent, instead of you?
Companion Plant 🍃 9:14 AM: Are you serious?
Me 9:14 AM: Yeah, why not? Why should you have to do it every time?
Companion Plant 🍃 9:14 AM: But don’t you, like - not want to do that? What if Kent freaks out?
Me 9:14 AM: Mmmm… I wouldn’t say that I do want to do it? But I can do it for you! Let me take care of it this time, Callahan. You’ve done a lot lately.
Companion Plant 🍃 9:17 AM: ♥️
Companion Plant 🍃 9:17 AM: Sometimes I wish you could hear me, instead of it being the other way around. So you could hear how you make me feel.
Companion Plant 🍃 9:17 AM: Then I realize that would mean I couldn’t hear you anymore, and that’s the end of that idea right fucking there.
Companion Plant 🍃 9:17 AM: Let’s go out on a date tonight. Feeling like I want to see you look pretty in candlelight somewhere.
Me 9:18 AM: 🥰
Me 9:18 AM: Should I take that as permission to tell Kent on your behalf?
Companion Plant 🍃 9:18 AM: Oh, man. If you really want to, go ahead, but I wouldn’t blame you if you changed your mind. Goes without saying that I know how nerve-wracking it is. It’s up to you.
Companion Plant 🍃 9:19 AM: Rewards will be waiting when you get home either way
Me 9:19 AM: Ooooh, what kind of rewards? Do I get to take you right out of your work clothes? ♥️
Companion Plant 🍃 9:19 AM: Because my aunt baked us a sour cherry pie!
Companion Plant 🍃 9:19 AM: Oh
Me 9:19 AM: Oh!! Omg okay yes a sour cherry pie sounds good too!
Companion Plant 🍃 9:20 AM: Damn, Keane.
Me 9:20 AM: Okay well I didn’t know what direction you were going with that, and you got me all flustered calling me pretty, it’s not my fault!!
Me 9:20 AM: Wait seriously your aunt baked you a pie?
Companion Plant 🍃 9:22 AM: Mhm. She said she was proud of me for telling Mel, Raj, and Ripples the truth, so I think it’s because of that. Why?
Me 9:22 AM: Because I’m halfway through baking you some chai cardamom cookies because I’m proud of you, haha
Me 9:23 AM: So many yummy pride pastries for you!🍪 Guess we all just love you a lot.♥️
Companion Plant 🍃 9:29 AM: You’re a yummy pride pastry.
Me 9:29 AM: It took you six minutes to come up with that, did it? You’re lucky you’re handsome.
Companion Plant 🍃 9:29 AM: Yeah well sometimes you make it pretty impossible for me to know what to say, Keane.
Me 9:30 AM: You’re being very sexy right now, you know that?
Companion Plant 🍃 9:30 AM: So what restaurant do we want for our date? The place with the smash burgers or the one with the pork rolls?
Companion Plant 🍃 9:30 AM: Oh
Companion Plant 🍃 9:31 AM: I wish I hadn’t said something about pork rolls right after you said I was being sexy.
Me 9:31 AM: Are you kidding? It was amazing. Mmmmmf yeah say more about pork rolls and smash burgers
Companion Plant 🍃 9:31 AM: Jamie please jfc
Companion Plant 🍃 9:31 AM: I’m at my place of business
Me 9:31 AM: Are you in your office, or down in the Archives?
Companion Plant 🍃 9:32 AM: In the Archives, getting through another one of the backlog boxes. Facing my ultimate nemesis: old scotch tape.
Companion Plant 🍃 9:32 AM: Why?
Me 9:33 AM: Because I like to picture you down there, and it helps to know what you’re doing. ☺️ Idk why, but it’s relaxing. ♥️
Companion Plant 🍃 9:42 AM: Again, Keane, you make it hard for me to know what to say.
~~~~
I’m pretty nervous, waiting for Kent to show up at the flower shop.
He’s testing out a system where we keep the shop open later on certain weeknights, so potential customers have more time to get here and buy flowers on their way home from work. I worked the usual closing shift tonight, except I didn’t close up. Kent is taking the experimental shift after mine. I’m alone in the half-lit shop at the moment, but he should be here any minute now.
It’s a good place to be when I’m nervous, at least. The peaceful green quiet of the shop settles over me as I stand behind the counter, knotting packets of seeds together with twine, making autumn wildflower sets.
Now and then I break my gaze away to stare admiringly at the special order that just came in. Two beautiful red angel pomegranate trees, very young, standing just shy of a foot tall in their pots. Whoever ordered them really did their research. They knew to order a pair, since this type of tree puts off more fruit when it has a friend growing beside it. They also knew that red angel is one of the only kinds of pomegranate tree that could put out fruit in this climate. The summers here should be just long enough and hot enough for them.
I tear my longing gaze away from the red angels, gather up the seed sets, and cross the shop to add them to the lighted display window. Kent went with a mushroom theme for our autumn display, to show off the mushroom liquid cultures we’re selling this season. He’s also added some cards to the counter, with prints of Ellen’s flower drawings on the front. It’s obvious that the drawings were done by a ten-year-old, but they’ve been selling pretty well.
I look around fondly at the shop, tranquil and quiet in the deepening dusk. Kent is always adding new things to make it better. He’s such a loving person, even when it comes to his shop. His care and attention really shows in every little detail.
A little swell of warm affection for him begins to glow quietly in my chest. I really don’t want to have to be the one to tell him the truth about Aiden - I’m expecting a bit of shouting and lecturing, to be honest - but I do think it’ll all be fine in the end.
I straighten up from arranging the seed packets and cross the quiet shop, headed for the door to the back. I reach for the handle, then let out a sharp gasp and fling myself backwards, nearly dropping everything in my arms.
Kent, who just threw open the door, spots me immediately. He bears down on me like a thunderstorm, sweeping towards me with an accusing finger already aimed at my face.
“James Keane!” His dark brown eyes are glaring down at me, his fingertip stabbing at my nose. “How fucking dare you not tell me the truth!”
“Oh my god!” I sputter, bewildered and alarmed, then equally outraged. I throw the remaining seed packets down on the counter and stab my finger in Kent’s face, too. “How dare you ambush me violently, out of nowhere! That’s probably illegal to do to your employees! I should call the - the bureau of - protect the workers!”
“Yeah, go ahead, Jamie, you sound like you know what you’re talking about! While you’ve got them on the phone, ask them how they suggest I handle a little ginger fool of an employee-”
“Wow, okay! I’m also your friend, but that’s fine!”
“-who sneaks around keeping this kind of information to himself-”
“For good reason!”
“-and ropes my girlfriend into it, too!”
“We did not!” I protest indignantly. “She roped herself in! And that’s no excuse for you to freak me out like that!”
Kent lets out a strained choking sound. “I freaked you out? Jesus, Jamie, I can’t even describe what I’m experiencing right now! And Kasey is a ghost? Are you fucking kidding me?”
Kasey appears at the far end of the shop, having been accidentally summoned. She starts to lift a hand in greeting, sees that Kent is yelling, and hastily vanishes again instead. But my eyes already darted to her, and Kent twists around to follow my gaze to an empty spot near the display window.
“Was she just here?” he sputters, his eyes growing very wide behind his glasses.
“Nnnn… she - n-no, she just - wait, I guess I don’t have to lie, do I? Yeah, she was here. She totally just took off and left me to fend for myself, super cool of her.”
“Oh my fucking god!” Kent almost shouts. “And I hear there’s a drowned 19th Century lumberjack in the mix, too, just walking around Ketterbridge! A friend of yours? Was that ever gonna come to my ears?”
“Seems like it did, didn’t it!”
“So I don’t get to know that there was magic going on at my house? That my tenant and my best florist-”
An immediate, flattered smile takes over my face. “What - aw, Kent, do you really mean that?”
“-were doing spells in my attic!” he finishes angrily, following me as I walk backwards, unsuccessfully trying to escape.
“Only for a little while! We practice somewhere else now. You remember that old place by the river that my dad has? We moved over there. When the fires and explosions happened they were never at your house, which means that was very smart of us. I think we deserve credit for that. Except - well - I guess there were a few explosions at your house. Little bitty ones, though, and never any fires - not that we explode things a lot, because we don’t! You didn’t watch the news this past weekend, did you? That thing with the hotel - it didn’t even really explode, and besides, it wasn’t us! Also if you heard about the burning car thing it wasn’t actually burning, just smoking. It wasn’t related to any of this. That was all Noah!”
“Wh-?” Kent stops and presses his fingertips to his temples, his eyes growing even wider behind his glasses. “Jamie!”
“Look, I’m sorry, but we were going to tell you!” I catch both of Kent’s wrists in my hands and look pleadingly up into his eyes. “You have to understand, Kent, it’s not easy for Aiden to talk about! Technically he’s not supposed to tell anyone at all, so you can imagine how difficult-”
“I understand that, Jamie, and I respect it!” Kent snaps, his eyes blazing with exasperation. “I'm not mad at it! If anything, I realize now that I owe you a way bigger debt of gratitude than I thought, knowing what would’ve happened if you guys hadn’t saved Gabby when she crashed her car!”
“Oh.” I draw back, blinking at him in surprise and relief, then confusion. “So - why are you shouting at me?”
Kent lets out a helpless, agonized sound, tilting his head back. “Because I’m freaking out! What the fuck!”
“Well, that’s part of why we were waiting to tell you, we wanted to do it when the time was right! But I guess you found out on your-” I break off as an alarming thought belatedly occurs to me. “Wait a second, how did you find out?”
The little bell over the shop door jingles before Kent can answer, and Gabby comes rushing in out of the autumn night.
Her outfit makes it clear that she came right here from City Hall, but she doesn’t have her usual City Hall calm and composure about her. She’s pink-cheeked, all out of breath. She freezes right where she is when she sees us.
Kent freezes, too, staring at her.
Her long hair is loose, cascading in delicate shimmering waves around her shoulders. She’s wearing a beautiful black work dress that fits her tightly, but has loose, sweeping white sleeves that reach her palms. She must have used body oil with a subtle sparkle to it, because she seems to glitter as she crosses the low-lit shop. With her sleek tights, her purse in one hand, and her camel-hair coat slung over her arm, it feels like she’s coming down a runway towards us.
I’m struck with the immediate suspicion that Gabby maybe did herself up this nicely today as a distraction technique aimed at Kent, because - it works. He looks like he’s momentarily forgotten what we were talking about, possibly even where he is. He just stares at Gabby as she breathlessly stops beside him, bringing with her a sweep of the cold night air clinging to her clothes.
She gently puts a hand on Kent’s back, then turns to me, wincing deeply.
“Oh, god, I’m sorry, Jamie! I was trying to get here before he did, so I could talk to you first! Of all the days to have a meeting run so late!” She turns to peer anxiously, searchingly up at Kent. “I had a feeling he hadn’t had enough time to calm down yet, but he promised me he’d be fine coming into work today!”
Kent snaps back into it with a jolt, then fixes Gabby with an incredulous frown. “Three days! To calm down from this kind of news?”
“Wait, what-?” I turn to Gabby, caught by surprise. “You told him, Gabby?”
She looks at me again, apologizing with her eyes. “I - I’m so sorry, there was - you would understand if you knew-”
She breaks off, nibbling her lip anxiously, then surprises me by sweeping me up into a tight hug.
“I’m sorry!” she whispers, in an earnest, anguished voice, squeezing me tightly. “I just couldn’t have Kent thinking that I don’t trust him, not when I trust him, like, more than I’ve ever - you, me, Aiden, we had talked about the idea of me telling him before, so I hoped maybe it would be - please - please try to understand…”
“Oh, no, it’s fine,” I interrupt gently, full of relief. “Aiden said I could tell Kent tonight, and I was gonna, but I really didn’t want to.”
Gabby draws back, her eyes opening very wide. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah!” I flash her an immensely grateful look, then return the hug she’s giving me. “Thanks for taking care of that for me. For weathering the first three days of Kent's reaction for us, too.”
Gabby stares at me blankly, then lets out a giddy little laugh, her shoulders sinking in relief. She turns to Kent, smiling from ear to ear.
“Thank god! Did you hear that, Kent?”
“What? No!” Kent has recovered enough to look furious again, and the stabby finger goes right back in my face. “This is fucking ridiculous! Is this why you didn’t take the bereavement leave I tried to give you when Kasey died? Because she’s still here?”
“Yeah, kind of. To be honest I just needed to keep my hands busy while Kasey and I tried to sort out what the fuck had happened. We were both pretty freaked out.”
“Oh, were you?” Kent asks searingly. “Then maybe you can appreciate how I’m feeling right now! How am I supposed to-?”
He breaks off as the bell above the shop door jingles again. Noah breezes inside with his work gloves stuffed in his back pocket and an unlit joint in the corner of his mouth.
“Hey, Keane, are you done with work?” He finishes knotting up his hair, then takes the joint from his mouth and holds it up. “‘Cause I am, and if you’re done with these flowers, we should light up this flower-”
He breaks off in a hurry, having caught an eyeful of the expression on Kent’s face.
Noah looks like his usual intimidating self, wearing a half-shredded sweatshirt with the words UNION THUG printed above a jagged bolt of lightning, his piercings glittering in the shop lights, his pushed-back sleeves showing his tattoos. Once he realizes Kent was yelling, though, he stops and takes a hasty step backwards, his grey eyes full of alarm.
“Mmm - nevermind, I’ll come back later.”
“Noah!” Kent rounds on him, gesturing wildly at me and Gabby. “You knew about this! About Aiden! About all of it!”
“Dude, help us!” I call desperately to Noah. “Tell Kent there’s no reason to get all worked up!”
“No reason-?” Kent stares at me incredulously, then turns imploringly back to Noah. “Weren’t you fucking shocked when Aiden told you?”
Noah, realizing he’s too late to escape, comes further into the shop and leans an elbow on the counter. “Kent, I’ve been an electrician for like a decade.”
“So?”
Noah grins widely. “So nothing shocks me anymore.”
I let out a choked noise, making a strangulation gesture at Noah, and Gabby drops her face into her hands. But Kent - unbelievably - lets out a sharp little laugh, then immediately looks mad at himself.
“Wh- you liked that, Kent?” I ask, astounded. “Genuinely?”
“Of course he did, dude,” Noah cuts in, still with a giant grin on his face. “It’s a dad joke, and he’s a dad. You should see our dads group chat, it’d make you guys sick. Oh, hey, Ms. Soto! You look nice. Like a business princess.”
Gabby, struggling to get a hold of herself, lets out a helpless laugh. “Hi, Noah. I’ve told you before that you don’t need to call me Ms. Soto outside of City Hall. You don’t even need to call me that at City Hall, actually.”
Noah considers that, his eyebrows furrowed. “Hm. Feels more proper that way, though.”
“More proper?” Kent sputters, staring at Noah with very wide eyes. “Since when do you care about what’s proper? Did I hear that you burned a car this week?”
“Bro, I saved a car this week. At great personal expense, I might add. I’m still trying to get the smell of that interior out of my hair.” Noah pauses, reconsidering. “Wait, I might be confused. Did you mean the cop car? I didn’t burn it, I smashed it. And technically Jamie smashed it. It’s fine, though. Ralph said it was cool.”
“No, no, enough!” Gabby jumps in hastily, waving a hand at Noah. She turns to Kent, taking a handful of his sweater. “I’ve learned that it’s better not to ask too many questions. I’d recommend you do the same thing.”
Kent’s answer to all this is a solid five seconds of disbelieving silence, so I step closer and catch his wrist again.
“I’m sorry, Kent,” I tell him earnestly, meeting his eyes as he turns to look blankly at me. “I’m especially sorry if we made you think that Gabby didn’t tell you because she doesn’t trust you! It was not that. We had to swear her to secrecy. And don’t think it means that Aiden and I don’t trust you, either! You’re part of a tiny group of people we’re telling, it’s just hard for Aiden to-”
Kent blows out a heavy breath, taking off his glasses to run his hand over his face. “I understand, I understand. Gabby explained all that.”
“Oh.” I hesitate, then ask gently, “So, um - why are you so worked up?”
“Because, Jamie.” He lets out a pained, long-suffering sigh, still covering his eyes with his hand. “I already worry a ton, and now I just found out that every time there’s life-threatening danger in this town, at least two people who I care about a lot, who mean a lot to me, are running right towards it! You - you guys want me to fret myself to death, don’t you?”
I draw back in surprise, hit hard and off-guard by a burst of warm affection for Kent. He agitatedly crams his glasses back onto his face, and I watch him with fond eyes, seeing the same thing reflected in Gabby’s.
“Well - if you look at it that way, it’s worrying,” I answer softly, after a moment. “But you could also look at it like… everyone you care about in this town is probably a little bit safer than you thought, because there’s a Guardian around.”
Kent stares at me with anxious, worried eyes, slowly absorbing that.
“A really good Guardian, too,” Noah adds in a matter-of-fact voice, rolling the joint between his inky fingers. “You’d feel better if you saw him in action, Kent. My mans can do more than hold his own. He’s got serious saving skills.”
“I’m the proof of that,” Gabby tells Kent earnestly, with a gesture at herself. “Remember how it went when they saved me?”
Kent gazes down at her, then looks at me and Noah, then closes his eyes and manages to take a real, deep breath.
“Look, Kent - can you not make a big deal about it to Aiden?” I ask imploringly, twisting the heist ring around my finger. “He doesn’t like to be treated any differently over it. That’s part of why he’s so nervous telling anyone. It would mean a lot if you could just act like everything is the same as it was before. I mean - it kind of is, anyways.”
“Yep, I’m just gonna calm down,” Kent says, sounding like a stressed-out mess. “Calm calm calm.”
“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” Noah jumps in brightly. “You want to smoke this with me, Kent?”
He holds the joint and a lighter out to Kent, who looks dazedly at them for a second, then takes the joint and lights it.
“Oh, um - Kent, are you sure you-?” Gabby begins, then stops as Kent heaves out an enormous sigh, too lost in his thoughts to hear her.
“You guys,” he growls exasperatedly at me, around a slow stream of smoke, “Are really truly trying to make me have a breakdown. And causing yourself a bunch of unnecessary difficulties in the process. Jamie, if you’d have told me before, I would’ve told you to leave the shop whenever you need to for Guardian emergencies. Just text me if you have time, so I can come take over for you.”
“Oh, really?” I beam gratefully at him. “Thanks, boss! That’s a huge relief.”
“I’d also have said that I demand to know when a ghost is present in my shop. Either of them. I’ll be wanting a word with Kasey, obviously. I guess I still have to meet the other one.”
“You’ll like Will!” I tell Kent brightly, meaning it completely. “He’s a fan of dad jokes, too. For some reason.”
“One day you and Aiden will have kids, and you’ll understand,” Kent informs me, sending me into blushing silence for a second.
“Um, wow, okay! Please don’t say anything like that when you talk to Aiden, either!” I look nervously, searchingly up at Kent’s face. “Honestly, Kent, do you think you’ll be okay when-?”
I stop and spin around as the bell jingles again, and Aiden steps into the shop.
He looks extremely sexy, all windblown and pink-cheeked, with his jacket on over his rumpled work clothes. I almost don’t notice the way he’s staring at us.
“Um… hey,” he says, with a tone of amused bafflement in his deep voice. “Kent, are you smoking a joint in the middle of your flower shop? Like - while it’s open?”
Kent looks down at the joint, then lets out a stream of curses when he realizes what he’s doing.
“Oh!” he groans, going around behind the counter to put it out. “I always end up acting a fool around you guys! It’s - contagious!”
“I was wondering if I should say anything,” Gabby laughs, crossing to the door and propping it open to let the smoke out. “But it seemed like you needed it, so I let it go.”
Aiden’s blue eyes flit sharply to me, then to Kent, then back to me, full of questions.
“He knows,” I answer softly, stopping before Aiden to give him a little kiss of greeting.
“Yeah, I know,” Kent sighs, tapping his fingertips on the glass countertop.
Aiden hesitates by the door, then comes over to stand across the counter from Kent, with penitent meekness that looks pretty adorably out of place on a man his size. Like a little kid who knows he’s in trouble, standing in front of the principal’s desk.
He blinks hard as Kent points a finger directly into his face, looking him right in the eyes.
“You,” Kent says, very softly and seriously, “Had better be careful out there.”
Aiden waits for a few seconds, then draws back in surprise. “What - that’s it?”
“That, and…” Kent breathes out a shaky exhale, reaching across the counter to briefly clasp Aiden’s arm. “Thank you. For saving Gabby. You have no idea…”
He trails off, and Aiden breaks into a small, startled smile.
“I have some idea,” he murmurs, with a nod at me.
Gabby and I exchange a blushing glance with each other, and Noah grins widely behind Aiden.
“Wow,” Aiden goes on, arching an eyebrow at Kent. “Really thought you might be upset with us. Or at least worked up, hearing about what we’ve been up to.”
“Me?” Kent asks, with an admirably slight hint of strain in his voice. “Nah, no. I’m cool. It’s cool. Just a little stressed because now I have to work my shift, and I’ve accidentally taken four hits of a joint.”
“That’s when you gotta go all in, man, and commit to the joint,” Noah tells him immediately. “You should probably burn the rest in one rip.”
“I think that would be ill-advised,” Gabby says firmly, her voice wavering with a barely-restrained laugh.
“I’ll take your shift, Kent!” I jump in, unable to help myself. “I don’t mind doing a double, especially since it’s a half-shift.”
“No, Jamie - the reason I’m taking the experimental late shift is so that I don’t lose money paying you or Des for that time if this doesn’t end up making the shop any profit. I don’t have to pay myself for the extra hours if I don’t want to.”
“Okay, well… you don’t have to pay me for them, either. At least not for tonight. If you’re gonna force me to stay late in the future you’ll have to pay like, quadruple my usual salary.”
Kent makes a face at me, but he sounds grateful as he asks - “Are you sure? There’s an order we need to work on. I was planning on doing it.”
“I’ll just do it. Since I’m your best florist.” I break into a wide grin, folding my arms over my chest. “I’m totally telling Des you said that, by the way.”
“She’d be the first one to tell you she cares way more about her poetry than about flowers, Jamie,” Kent grumbles distractedly. “She does this for work. You do it because you love doing it. Everything turns out better when you loved doing it.”
I smile fondly at Kent, joining him behind the counter. “Alright, then leave me to it. Why don’t you take tonight to catch your breath? Maybe go relax with Gabby?”
“I like that plan,” Gabby says warmly, weaving her fingers through Kent’s.
“Yeah, Kent, and we should finish this,” Noah chimes in, scooping up the joint. He slings an arm around Kent’s shoulders, then leads him to the door. “I got some questions for you about baby spin-kicking, anyways. I was gonna send ‘em to the dads group chat, but this is easier.”
“What?” Kent asks weakly.
The two of them slip outside, followed by Gabby. She pauses in the doorway of the shop and meets my eyes, hers glowing with warm relief. I give her an affectionate wave before I turn back to Aiden.
He looks just as infinitely relieved as Gabby. I practically beam at him, which draws a deep, huffing laugh. In the green quiet of the flower shop, I lean across the counter until he meets me halfway and puts his forehead to mine.
“Hi,” he murmurs, with a ripple of laughter lingering in his voice.
“Hi.” I brush an adoring kiss onto his lips, then fall back and pick up the paper with the order description. “You must be feeling good. One more done, just like that!”
“Yeah, I kind of can’t believe Kent took it so well,” Aiden rumbles, watching me as I read the order. “Really expected him to be mad that we were putting ourselves in danger over and over again without telling him. Seems like exactly the type of thing that would make him upset.”
“Yes, and yet we escaped without even one lecture!” I bend down to pick up a bundle of soft white bunny tails, being careful with the slender stems. “I think we had some major help from Gabby.”
“Really?” Aiden glances at the door, still propped open to the autumn night. “Guess I shouldn’t be surprised. She knows better than any of us how to help Kent relax. I was giving some serious thought to asking her if she’d be down to just go ahead and tell him for me, before you offered.”
“Oh, really?” I flash him a relieved smile. “Then it sounds like everything really did work out. Except now I have to work another shift, that’s unfortunate. Worthwhile to give Kent some more time to calm down, though.”
Aiden arches an eyebrow. “Starting to suspect that maybe Kent did have a meltdown, and just got it under control by the time I got here?”
“He’s just worried about us.” I glance up to meet Aiden’s eyes as I lay the delicate flowers out on the counter. “It’s what you thought. He doesn’t like the idea of us running right towards danger. That seemed like his main problem with all this, actually.”
Aiden blinks at me, then breaks into a warm little smile. “Aw.”
“I know,” I laugh, sorting through the Krylon cans beneath the counter. “But hey, if the worst thing that came out of this is that I have to do some cute baby shower flowers, one of my favorite kind of events to do flowers for, then that’s not so-”
I break off, realizing that there is a much worse result that somehow I hadn’t thought of yet.
“Oh, no! We were supposed to go on a date! I’m sorry, babe!”
“It’s okay,” Aiden laughs, resting his elbows on the counter and his chin on his palm. “I like that when our plans get fucked up it’s usually because you offered to help someone. I also figured the date would probably be off anyways if you told Kent the truth about me tonight, so. I brought the pork buns to you.”
“Really?” I let out a sigh of delight as Aiden pats his bag in confirmation. “Oh, I love you.”
Aiden blushes shyly, like it’s the first time I’ve said it to him. “I love you, too.”
“Are the pork buns my anniversary present?” I ask, lining up spray cans on the counter. “Nailed it, if so, but you’re a little early. I was gonna wait and give you yours when we get home from the Fling Thing.”
“No, the pork buns are not your anniversary present,” Aiden says firmly. “I’ve got something for you. Two things, actually. I’ll give them to you after the Fling Thing, too.”
He looks pleased with himself as he says it, like he knows it’s something I’m going to like. I look at him inquiringly, and he raises his eyebrows to show me he has no intention of giving me the slightest hint.
I let it go with a shrug, turning back to my flowers with a smile on my face. I’m curious, but - he’s had to share a lot, lately. He can keep this one a secret.
The bigger secret has finally been shared with those who need to know, and I can see the relief written all over my Heliomancer’s face.
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